Turkey and Bird Gun Advice

[tomhunter21]

that sounds like a pretty great, versatile gun steve_in!

does anyone know much about this gun? mossberg 12 gauge turkey thug gun.

Yes. It's been exceptionally popular since it was introduced and I have a number of readers who have bought one and are getting ready to use it this spring season.

Here's what I've seen and what my readers have reported. First of all, many are shooting 3" shells, mainly 3" Hevi-13 "Bronze" shells with 2 oz. of either #6 or #7 shot but some are shooting the 3" Magnum Blend shells with great success.

The chokes that most are having their best patterns with in the overbored guns are the SSX http://allaboutshooting.com/product_inf ... ucts_id=75 and the Hevi-13 Turkey Choke http://allaboutshooting.com/product_inf ... cts_id=201

With the standard bore guns the chokes that work best are again the SSX http://allaboutshooting.com/product_inf ... ucts_id=76 and the Hevi-13 Turkey Choke http://allaboutshooting.com/product_inf ... cts_id=199

All report best results after "deep cleaning" those barrels. They're using the guidelines contained in this article http://allaboutshooting.com/article_inf ... les_id=282

Those are good guns and should work very well in the turkey woods.

Best of luck to you this spring.

Thanks,
Clark

Thanks Clark. I think I'm kind of leaning towards buying a gun just for turkeys, then maybe looking at other options for a gun for other birds. Do you know what the price is on this bad boy?

[shaman]

My belief is that turkey hunting is not all that demanding of a shotgun. You just need to throw one round at a stationary target. Therefore, I would work towards getting a good wingshooting gun and then seeing if it will adapt to turkey hunting. The fancy part of a turkey gun is the choke. Just make sure the gun can take a choke tube and that the choke system has turkey chokes readily available for it.

However. . .

I went for years with a Remington 1100 for everything. This was before the days of choke tubes, so I invested in barrels. I had one for every occasion.

The only problem was camouflaging the gun. I tried everything from tape to socks to chaps-- it was all pretty klugey. I finally broke down and bought an ugly bottom-shelf Mossberg 500 and spray-painted it.

The one other problem is wear and tear. The absolute worst beatings I gave my 1100 was turkey hunting. If you look at all the marks on that 1100 from 30 years of use, just about every ding and scratch came from turkey hunting.

In the end, I would advise 2 guns: a good wingshooting gun and then a cheap dedicated turkey gun.

[allaboutshooting]

The Mossberg Turkey THUG (Today's Hunters United for Good) series has several guns and prices vary for the models. Of course where you purchase one will also dictate how much you pay.

Thanks,
Clark

[tomhunter21]

Thanks for the advice guys. Something to think about.

allaboutshooting, where would you recommend I start looking? I have a Cabelas, Gander Mountain, and Dick's Sporting Goods close.

[Turkeybuster]

Check them all out and compare prices and Cabelas has a sale going on right now.

Jon

[tomhunter21]

What do you guys think of the Model 870™ SPS™ Shurshot™ Synthetic Turkey gun? I have a guy that won it in a raffle and is wanting to get rid of it for $450. I don't know much about it, cept for that fact that I'm a big Remington and 870 fan. Price may be a little more than I want to spend, but if it's a good gun.....I may be willing to bend.

MSRP says $671.00

http://www.remington.com/products/firea ... urkey.aspx

Thank you.

[allaboutshooting]

First of all, I'd like to apologize for not answering your question about the price of the Turkey Thug guns. I just did not see that question until today when I read your new post and glanced at the older one. It's been a little crazy here trying to get caught up after our trip to GA & SC for a still target shoot.

It looks like you're interested in that Remington 870. It's a very good gun and has been very popular since it was introduced. The ShurShot stock, camo and already installed sights should have you pretty much ready for the turkey woods. it's hard to beat an 870 anytime.

I have not purchased one of those in a while but the "street price" is usually a good bit below the MSRP as you know. This time of year however dealer are usually not too inclined to discount too heavily.

Since the fellow won the gun, he's probably not too heavily invested in it and you may be able to bargain with him just a bit. You may also want to check out a few "big box" stores to see what they are selling for there. I think the the 3" chambered guns selling for about $400.00.

The ShurShot stock set normally sells for $70.00 or so and you can get the best Truglo "Pro Series" sights for about $50.00, to give you some perspective. I think you could find a Remington 870 Express for under $300.00, matte finished and if you like the stock and sights, you'd have about $400.00 in that gun.

I hope that helps some.

Thanks,
Clark